As the Pathfinders approach the village of Nesting Swallow in the Tian nation of Shokuro, they find it besieged by a gang of tengu bandits. Before their contact in the village will aid them in restoring the Iroran relic that brought them hundreds of miles to the isolated town, the PCs must repulse the attackers, using every ounce of tactical mettle and military strategy they possess to train the villagers, augment their defenses, and ultimately face off against the bandits' charge.

This scenario is designed for play in Pathfinder Society Organized Play, but can easily be adapted for use with any world. This scenario is compliant with the Open Game License (OGL) and is suitable for use with the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game.

Average product rating:

Unfortunate Implications

The meat of the scenario is a resource-management minigame, which affects a village's readiness for a siege and mass battle. Unfortunately, given the racial and ethnic makeup of the average party of Avistanian PCs versus Shokuro villagers, what it amounts to narratively is Mighty Whitey swooping in and saving the bowing and grateful brown natives.

Seriously, this isn't a case of "the PCs are special and the villagers just happen to be brown." Not only do they turn over complete control of the village to you, to the point where you decide how many people will work the fields versus shoring up the defences, but mechanically, one PC can do the work of five villagers ... even when that work is harvesting rice. In an agricultural village where that is their livelihood. I thought Profession wasn't usable untrained?

It was when I realized this that I said, flat-out, "this is really racist," and the GM was like "yes, it is."

I tried to explain away some of the implications by saying that my PC (a kitsune shrine maiden of the goddess of rice) was performing a harvest ritual or something, while our half-orc fighter could do the work of ten farmhands just because of how strong he was. But it just seemed really unfortunate that these people had no agency and were being reduced to playing pieces ... which was a theme I felt like I had seen in the other Dragon Empires adventures, where the whole continent was exoticised and existed only for "western" people to have an adventure in.

Finally, it may just be that we aced the resource management part. But the epic battle some reviewers liked felt more like shooting fish in a barrel, because this overwhelming force seemed to attack in such tiny waves. I get the impression they were going for something like Dynasty Warriors, and I'm wondering if our GM was just having trouble describing the action.

Heroic Last Stand

I don't have a ton to add beyond the other reviews, other than that is one of few scenarios that really feel "epic." As a player (and vicariously as the GM), I love the feel of facing down impossible odds and grinning.

This is not your standard murderhobo/golden retriever fare. Here at Nesting Swallow you actually get to play a real hero.

As a side-note, the preparation mini-game can be tedious if run poorly, but frantic and exciting if done well.

A great finale with some work

If you have a vanilla Gm that does not put extra into a scenario this may be more bland. The villian has flavor the town has flavor, it is a great mold to work with.

The idea is the seven samurai with a brutal series of attacks on the town. It can be difficult as the village gets hit very quickily in succession.

If you choose to DM this take the time to develope everything. I had the town give the PC a feast in the mornings and would have a giant crow with a message from the villian descrbing how he anticipates the battle and will write ballads of the PCs defeat.

Far Too Hard

An interesting scenario that feels very much like The Seven Samurai. Unfortunately I have issues with it.

Played this at tier 1-2 with two 1st (rogue and samurai), a 2nd level (fighter), a 3rd (swashbuckler) and a 4th level (cleric). The defence planning of the village was a nice idea but part of me really hated it and wanted it over so we could get on with the adventure. The encounters during the battle were far too tough for even for our party and repeatedly we almost lost characters. It's another PFS scenario where the encounters just aren't balanced for low level play.

A great and smart scenario

This was maybe the best of this season. I know it is based on a Kurosawa film and so I felt rewarded intellectually for figuring this out. Beyond that, it is very well written to make the party feel very invested in helping the people. I was lucky to play this in a home game as part of a larger campaign and so we were able to delve much deeper into the material and develop more than just the passing relationships allowed in the 4 hour PFS time. I recommend other to play this scenario in this manner.